Theology 7372, Fall 2009

In listening to the story of Job growing up it always bothered me that there could be this cosmic being who played games with our lives like a video game. How could that be loving or good at all? It’s sick and twisted. And so I really didn’t like the story of Job. But lately I’ve been thinking I was just looking at the story wrong. Maybe.

I think it might be a tad ironic that Job’s name is Job. That somehow his name is spelled the same as the word job is more than ironic in that Job feels his entire condition is a reflection of the job he has done in serving God. Isn’t it?

And that’s how we are.

We tend to think that God is a being who rewards or punishes based upon our ability. I mean, it’s just easier. It’s our go-to move. Many of us were raised in traditions who at least implied the very same in some ways. Now, I don’t know if God is a God that necessarily punishes or rewards based on what I’ve done but I find a similiarity between the theology of the Book of Job and the theology of the cross.

Because in Job the overarching idea is that God can do whatever God chooses. Why? Because God is God. And even though Job and his friends think that their actions are what move God to do what God does or allows, the story makes it clear that God will “punish” and “reward” any that God may choose for whatever reason God chooses.

And I find continuity with that in the story of the cross. To quote Romans, none is righteous! None of us has done enough to earn or merit the great reward or blessing that has been placed in our hands by God, but because God can choose what God will do without regard to our actions or abilities, we were sent the Son to deliver us all.

And here’s the kicker.

On some level God still expects us to live righteously. God still rewarded Job for living righteously, on both chronological sides of his torment. In fact, his righteous living so impressed the Lord that it was his behavior that prompted the whole incident in the first place. Clearly, it’s important that Job led and continued to lead a righteous life.

And so for you and me. It is important that we make decisions that are righteous. Because just as God could choose to do what God would with Job, God has chosen to do with us what God wants. But just as God expected Job to live righteously and make righteous decisions, God expects us to respond and live righteously.

So the point is this; that, though God has chosen to do what God wants to do without regard to our actions, God expects that our actions outside of God’s decisions are still righteous.

That means in response to Christ. That means in our relationships with people. That means our relationship with the Earth. That means everything.

So I guess the story of Job isn’t that bad.

After the opening chapters where Satan and God discuss Job’s faithfulness and God allows the trials of Job to commence, we are briskly guided through the destruction of Job’s family and wealth, until we land at the arrival of Job’s friends. There we, as readers, are allowed an in-depth account of the “trial” of YHWH. As the book of Job unfolds However, I found the narrative looking more and more like a powwow and less and less like a courtroom.
While the footnotes alerted me that Job was using a courtroom lingo, I could not help but see the group gathered up around a fire sitting back and having a harsh heart to heart. Job’s friends are not ruthless and harsh men who seem to lavish unending slander and accusations on Job (as the persecution would in a court room), rather they appear to be men who love and cherish their relationship with Job, who in this midst of Job’s suffering attempted to follow the logic of their theology and find the causal sin. They could not accept that their theology did not rightfully account for Job’s unmerited suffering and thus began to engage Job in one of those uneasy “we need to talk” discussions.
We are told that their campfire powwow began after seven days of that awkward silence which precedes some of the most difficult conversations one can have. Finally, Job voices his frustration and reaches out for the comfort of his friends. Instead, he is met with a calling to admit sin and repent. While the dialogue centers on Job as he examines and protests the puzzle of human suffering the most shocking part of the text is found in chapter 16 when he describes God as a lion tearing into his prey. “God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes…He seized me by the neck and crushed me…again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior.” (vs 9-14)
This depiction of God as a merciless lion seeking to devour its prey is a startling text. After meditating on Job’s words I was reminded of C.S. Lewis’ The Horse and It’s Boy. In the book a beast chases the two main characters during the night, stalks them when weary, and mauls one of them. This terrifying beast continues to hunt the horse and his boy as they flee for Narnia till the end of the book, when they have a final encounter. In their last encounter the horse has fled toward Narnia and the boy finds himself standing face to face with the Lion. Aslan, reveals Himself as the beast in the night and explains to the boy that while he chased the horse and the boy he did all this, out of love, in order to push the two travelers onward and to steer them from danger.
While the depiction of God in Job 16 was not meant to reveal God’s goodness and grace but rather his fierce wrath One can not help but notice the similarities in structure. Both the boy and Job are preyed on by the lion and just as the boy drops his charge against the beast at the end of The Horse and His Boy, so does Job when God speaks to him.
On one last note, I found it very interesting that when God commanded Job’s friends to repent and offer sacrifice it says that God “received” Job, and that when Job prayed his friends where forgiven, rather than when they had committed the sacrifices.

Well,  last night i heard that someone i knew and used to be close with passed away yesterday afternoon.  The man who died was my x-girlfriends father.  I got to know him well when i was dating her.  For at least two years.  Here is an article about his passing  http://www.corsicanadailysun.com/local/local_story_282225721.html

His passing upset me more then i excepted.  He was in his early fifties and had beautiful wife and three kids.  Two daughter, one just got married and the other is in grad school.  He also had a son who was still in high school.   He and his wife were also in the process of adopting two kids from China. (please keep this whole family in your prayers, this has to be really hard) This man was a preacher who effected a lot of lives for the better, even mine.

   When i first heard about this tragedy i thought i might find comfort in Job but all it did was made me get angry at God.  This man was like job, he was righteous and has done more good then most people i know but for some reason God felt it necessary for him to be taken.  

The question to ask is why?  Why him?  Why not me or someone else that waist their life, why was he taken so quick leaving everyone in a shock?

So i then looked at Ecclesiastics and found little help.  It rains or the good and the bad.  Great……still didnt help…..

What makes me so important that im still a live and he isnt?  He was a man of God that fear God as long as i knew him.  I on the other hand am not as strong in God and fall many more times then anyone can expect, yet im alive.

This upset me a lot last night until i was reminded of something outside of scripture.  C.S. Lewis book where he deals with the loss of his wife.  In this book C.S. Lewis screams at God for what he has done saying that he doesn’t understand and how could this happen.  The very same questions i had.  

The only comfort i had was to understand that im not God and dont understand the way his works.  It can be crappy, very much so, but we must move on  and trrryyyyy to trust in God once again.

Tragedy happens, crap happens, death happens, sin exists, suffering sucks and as much as we dont like the answer, life is a mystery that we still dont fully understand and suffering is apart of that mystery

Let’s take a moment to think on all those sermons that ridicule the Greek gods, those anthropomorphic beings that play chess with human lives.  Now lets celebrate that the Christian God is nothing like that.

But wait…

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? ¹⁰Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.” -Job 1:6-12

In this passage, God seems to have some kind of debate going on with Satan, though the nature of the debate is not stated.  In order to bolster his case, God offers up Job as an example of a god-fearing individual.  When Satan offers his counter argument, God basically gives him free reign to do anything to Job except kill him.  All to win an argument?  I thought that God didn’t play chess with human life for his own purposes.

For the reasons above, I find Job to be an extremely problematic book.  What are we to do with a God who trivializes human life in this manner?  This conundrum is furthered when one considers the massive loss of life that the story represents in a culture that did not believe in the after life.  How many people will God allow to die to make his point?  And to what extent must Job suffer?  Rather than offering a tenable answer to the question of theodicy, I can’t help but think that the book of Job actually furthers the problem.

Suffice it to say that I struggle greatly with God as he is pictured in Job.  I’m simply not sure what to do with a God who would trivialize human life in this manner.

After Job loses his kids, his wealth, and his health, he spends several chapters arguing with his friends.  He also directly challenges God.  Towards the end of the book, God speaks and puts Job in his place.  Yet, at the end of the story, we learn that Job is blessed with twice as much stuff as he had before.  What is the reason for this blessing?  Has Job earned blessing by refusing to curse God?  Is more of the Deuteronomic notion that piety produces prosperity?

I wonder if Job is blessed because he had no hope of an afterlife.  Job 16:22 is but one example that indicates that Job did not believe in the possibility of an afterlife.  If this book had been written in the 1st century AD, the book could end without any tangible reward here on earth because there is a promise of a future reward.  However, since there is no afterlife in Job, for the sake of justice, he must be rewarded in this life.

This may not be correct, but it seems plausible to me.

The book of Job provides an interesting case study for ministers: specifically the relationship between Job and his friends.  In the story, Job has lost just about everything: possessions, children, health.  Yet, he has three friends that come to his aid.  As is clear from the passage, the friends apply practical wisdom of the day to Job’s unfortunate situation.  To them, it seems perfectly plausible that bad things are happening to Job because Job has sinned.  This was their worldview and they applied this understanding without shame.  However, at the end of the account, we find out that the friend’s worldview is incorrect. 

Occasionally, ministers are guilty of jumping in and trying to help someone in need without first gaining a better understanding of the situation.  Often, we apply our understanding of Scripture to another person’s life without allowing the person’s situation to critique our worldview.  This passage reminds us that there are numerous tensions in Scripture.  With this in mind, we should be careful in how we apply Scripture to our own lives, as well as the lives of others.

When helping someone through grief or some other unexplaind loss, does Job provide us with an answer other than the cliche “God knows best”?  Explain.

In Job, this word would have been a better translation for “patience”.  What is endurance?